


A War Mage enters a Shop…

by BowAndDagger



Series: Scraps and (Un)Finished Parts [3]
Category: Arthurian Mythology, Original Work
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Excalibur, Gen, Magic, Magical Artifacts, The War Mage got in over his head, The shopkeeper is longsuffering, magical shop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 19:26:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18817450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BowAndDagger/pseuds/BowAndDagger
Summary: It sounds like the beginning of a joke but it isn’t.





	A War Mage enters a Shop…

 

“Thomaaaas!”

The call almost drowns out the ringing of the bell at the door. The shopkeeper sighs but doesn’t turn towards his friend; he recognised the voice and he has no intention to let go of his book right now.

He keeps his nose firmly in the grimoire and refuses to acknowledge the new arrival. He can’t seem to be able to concentrate on the runes since the white-haired War Mage entered, but that won’t stop him from pretending. The last time Al erupted into his shop like this, he ended up in jail for saving the Queen’s life. To be fair, in order to save her life, they had to steal one of her necklace. A cursed necklace. Not that the royal guards had been willing to listen to their explanation.

Unperturbed and as mischievous as ever, Al smiles.

“Thomaaas! Thom! Thom! Thomaaaaas!”

Eyebrow twitching, Thomas Earnsey continues to read to the great irritation of the new arrival who whines again.

“Thomaaas! Tommy!”

When the new nickname earns him a glare and a huff the War Mage grins, victorious.

“Tommy! Tommy-boy! Tomm-hmph!”

Finally fed-up with his friend’s antics, Thomas claps a hand over the idiot’s mouth.

“Never ever call me that again,” he hisses.

The numbskull keeps on smiling like the happy-go-lucky loon he is and then proceeds to lick the palm muffling him. With a sound of disgust, the shopkeeper lets him go while Al guffaws.

Daintily, he takes a handkerchief from inside one of his robes’ pockets to clean his hand off of saliva. Why is he friend with that bastard, again?

“What do you want?”

Better to get this done and over with as quickly as possible, then. His sanity will recover sooner than later if he goes along with the madness. He squints when Al’s smirk disappears to be replaced by a sheepish smile. Thomas represses a shudder; that’s not good.

“I need your help.”

The red-haired man crosses his arms over his chest, unamused. The idiot is able to fistfight a dragon, win and go on to fight bandits – all the while being completely wasted – with no problem whatsoever. What kind of disaster did he get himself into, this time?

He gets his answer when his friend reaches behind his back and puts a sword on his counter. Al is fidgeting, dancing from one foot to the other as Thomas examines the weapon. The shopkeeper’s eyes widen. He can feel the raw magic radiating from it and – now that he’s paying attention – from Al, too.

“You see…,” the white-haired mage begins, “there was this voice that led me to a lake…”

Oooooh, no. No. Thomas already knows where this is going and he doesn’t like it, not one bit!

“Al.”

But his friend continues as if he did not hear him, words flowing from his mouth like a torrent:

“…And there was a Lady standing upon the water and she was saying things I wasn’t really paying attention to and then there was an arm coming from the water…”

“Al.”

“And it was holding the sword…”

“Al!”

The words are rushed now, almost panicked.

“It brandished it three times! And the Lady’s voice told me to take it and Idon’tknowwhatIwasthinkingbutIdid…!”

“Albion!”

“AndIdon’twanttobeKing!”

Between them, the flickering lights of the Magical Artefacts shop’s candles reflect on Excalibur’s blade.

Albion’s smile is still sheepish but his red eyes are wild and he’s wringing his hands together. Unimpressed, Thomas thinks this is just revenge for every single time his friend got him into trouble and so, he isn’t inclined to feel one ounce of sympathy for his plight. In fact, he smirks when a thought crosses his mind.

“Well, then. At least you were aptly named.”

Albion Drake glowers at him.

**Author's Note:**

> Also on Tumblr (bow-and-dagger)
> 
> Also, meet Human!Albion!


End file.
